


Retracing his Footsteps

by UnapologeticallyMeatwad



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Trans, Best Friends, Gen, Mystery, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Canon, Trans Edelgard von Hresvelg, Trans Hubert von Vestra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:49:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27700280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnapologeticallyMeatwad/pseuds/UnapologeticallyMeatwad
Summary: When (a trans) Hubert tries to speak to (a trans) Edelgard after she returns from the dungeon with white hair, he is removed from sight by his awful father. Not accepting his disappearance, a nine year old Edelgard finds some initiative and hits the streets to find her best friend.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg & Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Retracing his Footsteps

**Author's Note:**

> Warning, there will be references to abuse and gender dysphoria. Also, I’m pretty sure a few tidbits here and there are not canon compliant but I think it’s fine haha.
> 
> This idea kept me up for a straight hour the other night, and I wrote it all the next day. 
> 
> Didn't help that my cat woke me up at 3AM to ram his face into mine.

Lady Edelgard is not much like herself lately, and it worries Hubert so much. She was taken from him a while back, and he pursued her. He went rogue for a fair amount of time, speaking to innkeepers and merchants for intel, but it all came tumbling down when a militia hunted him down.

His father was furious. Hubert told himself he did it because it’s what von Vestras were ought to do for their Hresvelg, but that wasn’t it at all. Not for Edelgard.

She returned to him broken. Edelgard was always tiny, but she had gotten even smaller, like shriveled fruit. Hubert hates to assume that her caretakers would hurt her, but she seemed malnourished and thin as a rail. Her long beautiful brown locks had been slashed up to her neck, and were powder white and frayed. She didn’t wear dresses anymore and she seemed to have become more infantile, clutching tightly to her stuffed bear wherever she went.

Worse yet was the look in her lilac eyes. Wide and vacant, dimly aware of her surroundings. Even when she looked at Hubert, she didn’t seem to recognize him at all. But sometimes he could swear she was looking at him when he wasn’t expecting it, but all he ever saw were retreating eyes.

At their schooling, Edelgard let people call her▬◙■▓▓◘ again; she doesn’t seem to like it very much.

Also all of her siblings are gone. Based on Edelgard’s appearance, he’s assuming they’re dead. Not that he can really ask. After the stunt he pulled last year, Hubert is under tight watch. But unfortunately for his new handlers, he’s far more cunning than them.

One day, when Hubert is confident his handlers have lost sight on him, he approaches Edelgard in one of the gazebos. She’s playing with her stuffed bear again, muttering and whispering to herself in different voices. The moment she sees him though she stops and shrinks even more. “I’m not ‘sposed to talk to you anymore, Hubert…”

So she _does_ still know who he is.

After all, she’s the only one who will call him by that name. Everyone else calls him ▓♦▒▀◙█.

“Lady Edelgard…” Hubert draws closer.

“No,” she moans. “They won’t let me call myself that anymore either. They said I have to be a boy from now on. Hubert, go away.”

“We could always run.”

“They’ll find us,” Edelgard whispers, her eyes shining. She never used to be a crier either. “Please go away. If they find you, they’ll hurt you and—”

“They aren’t watching right now,” Hubert says. It feels mean to be so cool with her. She needs help. “I checked.”

Her eyes darken. He thinks it’s the first time he’s seen any change in her eyes since she was dragged away by her uncle. “There’s more of them than you think.”

 _Them_. Hm. Hubert’s suspicions are correct then.

“It was your Uncle, wasn’t it?” Hubert says. “I’m sorry, am I scaring you?”

Edelgard nods meekly, clutching her teddy bear closer. “I’m really sorry. I don’t know what to do.”

Her fingers dig so hard into the plush that it pulls her knuckles taut, and it exposes her bright blue veins through translucent skin. 

Hubert is going to kill whoever did this to her.

“They said,” Edelgard sniffs. “If I grow up as a boy, strength will come more naturally to me, and um, I think—I think they’d only let us be friends if you grow up as a girl. But I don’t think it’s worth it. You deserve to be happy, Hubert.”

“You do too,” he says softly.

She just shakes her head.

Hubert opens his mouth, not even sure what he’s about to say, but it doesn’t matter. It’s that moment that his father rests a talon on his shoulder. 

“Well, well, well, what have we here?” the horrible man sneers. “I’m so sorry, ▬◙■▓▓◘, ▓♦▒▀◙█ won’t be bothering you anymore.”

Hubert looks up at his father, at his flat face and gaunt cheeks. “What did you do to her—”

 _Slap_.

“Quiet,” his father hisses. “Come.”

He sniffs. “Yes, father.” 

As he’s dragged away, he looks back to Edelgard and sees the darkness pluming in her eyes, he sees how her fear turns into anger. 

Somehow, he knows that this will be war.

* * *

Edelgard doesn’t see Hubert for a whole moon after that. At first, she thinks it’s because he’s grounded but then people start claiming they don’t even know who Hubert or ▓♦▒▀◙█ is. Like he never existed, and after weeks of it, Edelgard almost doubts herself, doubts that she ever had a best friend named Hubert. After all, her mind is all fuzzy after what they did to her.

But no — they made a mistake. They hurt Edelgard too hard, they betrayed her. Her own Uncle laughed at her as she screamed.

She knows how these vermin work. Of course they’d disappear Hubert. She wouldn’t be shocked if he returned as _someone else_.

She knows where Hubert is too. He must be where they kept her. But how in the Goddess’ name is she going to get there? She was blindfolded on the carriage ride in. 

Hubert couldn’t find it last year, and she’s even weaker than him now.

She needs to use her Crests. They must be powerful, she’s sure of it.

One afternoon, Edelgard breaks away from the other children, which isn’t unusual for her, and hides in a bush. She grabs one of the leaves and focuses on it. It takes fifteen minutes of staring before anything happens, and when it does spark it’s brilliant. Flames erupt at her fingertips and incinerate the leaf—and much more.

The whole bush goes up in flame, and Edelgard has to scramble away before she gets burned. 

Men rush in to put out the fire and Edelgard just stands there, watching. She doesn’t mind the smoke filling her lungs, she likes watching the fire. She tightens her fist.

Oh yes. They made a huge mistake when they decided to lock Edelgard von Hresvelg up.

* * *

Edelgard runs out of food fast. She packed mostly bread and vegetables, because she had no idea how to keep meat fresh while on the run. Getting out of the palace was surprisingly easy, long as she hides her hair it’s hard to clock her as Edelgard. So she wore a pageboy cap she stole from that annoying Ferdinand von Aegir kid. “ _I look much better in this hat than you!”_ he said. _“Oh_ — _oh… I take that back. You look… damn. You can, um, keep it._ ”

Apparently she’s quite precious in it.

But without meat Edelgard has to eat _a lot_ and what she wanted to last her a week is gone in four days. She thinks she should be more scared, traveling alone in the open like this, but she prefers it to being enclosed in tight, foreign spaces. Not again, never again. She considers sleeping outside, like some of the orphans do, but it’s too cold so she finds an inn. Hopefully they have food.

Besides, Hubert always told her that inns are good for gathering intel. Shady people meet there and you can listen in on them. If Edelgard is to do this, she needs to think like Hubert. Because whatever he did the first time he ran away, it got him pretty far.

“I’m not supposed to give rooms to children,” the haughty desk clerk says.

Edelgard furrows her brow and slides double the gold she’s asking for across the counter, and makes a shush gesture. 

“Of course you can stay the night,” the clerk corrects, pocketing the extra gold.

“You will feed me,” Edelgard says coldly, then marches up to her room. This is wild. She’s not really sure what’s going to happen when she returns to the palace, if she’ll return. She needs to find that dungeon they kept her in and save Hubert before it’s too late.

The next morning, Edelgard awakens to familiar voices shouting from below. She creeps into the hall and peers down the staircase to see two people arguing with the clerk. One is an old balding man with wisps of brown hair, ‘Tomas.’ 

Really, he’s Solon, the awful warlock who lead most of the experimentation on her.

Besides him is a little girl with blond pigtails. She was a plant, set to become Edelgard’s friend after all of her brothers and sisters—um—died…

...but she wasn’t very friendly at all and got taken away. She’s not really a child after all, she’s a centuries old demon named Kronya.

Edelgard knows she should hide away in her room, maybe plan an escape, but this is suspicious to her. She always imagined the dungeon being so much farther away, but if Solon and Kronya are here in Enbarr… that means…

Either way, the front desk lady is putting up quite a fight for her, which makes her grin. When she finally manages to shoo away the two demons, Edelgard comes downstairs in her nightgown, looking up at the lady. 

“Thank you,” Edelgard squeaks.

“It’s okay,” the lady grins, mussing Edelgard’s hair. “I’m concerned lately, a boy a little older than you stayed here too a few moons ago and people came looking for him. He was much ruder than you—”

“Was his name Hubert?!” Edelgard blurts out, promptly flushing in embarrassment. “I’m looking for him. He’s missing.”

“He did say his name was something like that, or Humbert, eh, I can’t remember,” the lady crosses her arms. 

“Who came? Or, um, what did he look like, Miss?”

“Very tall, long black hair, sharp chin, hook nose…”

“Was his hair tied back or down?” Edelgard asks, miming what those would look like, as if it would help.

“Down.”

Hubert’s father then. Uncle always has his hair tied back. 

It doesn’t really matter though, that doesn’t tell Edelgard anything. She already knew they were involved. Besides, last time Hubert was captured they just brought him home. 

“Do you know where he went next?” Edelgard asks.

“He told me over coffee one morning, he really shouldn’t be drinking coffee that one,” the lady clicks her tongue. “Far too young for—”

“Where.”

The lady raises an eyebrow. “I’m only making conversation… yeesh. You are like that boy I guess. He went to—”

* * *

For a whole week, Edelgard follows the trail. First, she travels to a Black Mage’s Black Magic Shop and though the mage is scary looking, he’s quite jovial. ( _“Tell your friends!”_ )

“Oh Hubert,” he stirs his tea thoughtfully. Edelgard always finds a way to get food and tea out of these people. “A von Vestra boy came to me, and asked about who I know in the dark underground, and threatened me with a knife.”

Oh this is totally the guy who turned Hubert in.

“I laughed!” the Black Mage splays his hands open. “I admired his tenacity, do you want to see the scar he gave me?”

“No,” Edelgard deadpans. “Where did you tell him to go?”

“To the _scaaaaaary_ forest—”

* * *

“Oy!” an old man with a crossbow shouts. “What a ‘yer doin’?”

Edelgard breathes a sigh of relief. She’s been wandering the dark wood for hours now and it was getting kind of boring. Some monsters attacked her, she enjoyed that because she got to test her new powers on them and blow them to smitheroons _wooooosh!_

 _“_ I’m looking for a friend,” Edelgard says.

“Eh whaddafuck,” he grumbles. “Ain’t no friends ‘ere. Fuckin’ kids, I tell ya, a boy came here a while back to ask me de same dumb shit.”

Edelgard narrows her eyes. She doubts he’ll tell her what she needs without coercion. “What’s your name, Mister?”

He looks back. “My name is… Edgardel.”

Edelgard blinks. “Edgardel.”

“Yeah.”

“Um. Okay.” So awkward. “Edgardel, surely you told this boy where to go next, yes?”

“‘Course I did, I knows a lot of stuff, an’ I told him to go to—”

* * *

The sewers smell so rancid. She bets Hubert found it delightful though, he’s been getting all gothic lately. 

She trudges through for so long, and passes by many citizens experiencing homelessness, set up in tents and the like. She feels sorry for them, and gives away some of the rations she got from that first inn she stayed at.

It’s good she did that because those same people let her stay with them for the night. She sleeps on stone and though it reminds her of her time underground, she’s around pleasant company. And she’s allowed to hold her teddy bear this time. She continues wandering the next day.

She really wishes Hubert were here. The rats keep scurrying past and she can’t help but scream, and hide. This really sucks. She needs to keep going, for Hubert. So she closes her eyes most of the time, and holds her traveling cloak tight to her chest.

Eventually, she finds something. Artwork, scratched into the wall. It’s the Crests of her family. Like to a T, it’s the exact Crests of her family with notes scrawled below. Most of the carvings are more recent, based on the cut and she recognizes Hubert’s handwriting fast.

Unbelieve. From the inn to the black magic shop to the _scaaaaary_ forest to the opera house to a particular alleyway to a dojo to here.

The first Crest that apparently inspired this was her first Crest, the Minor Crest of Seiros. She feels close, but there’s no bizarre character to give her a lead thistime.

So she thinks. Hubert was trying to figure something out with the Crests of her family. Why? 

There’s someone she knows though who is wonderful at Crest theory.

* * *

Hanneman von Essar is a local Crest scholar and quite renowned for his research, though he’s been a little dour lately. Death in the family or something like that, Edelgard has heard.

He’s nice though, his eyes light up from their steely gray when he sees her. “Ah! ▬◙■▓▓◘, ▬◙■▓▓◘! Come in, come in—ah!” He steps back and bows to her. “Or should I say Emperor ▬◙■▓▓◘ von Hresvelg!”

“Actually, um, Doctor Essar,” Edelgard stumbles, closing the door behind me. “It’s Edelgard now.”

Hanneman is already rummaging through his cabinets to make some tea. She also notices how he opens up a shelf that seems to have sweets within it. She licks her lips.

“Edelgard,” he repeats to himself. “Edelgard, Edelgard, Edelgard, what a lovely name my boy—oh.” He looks back sheepishly. “Pardon me, child. You are a girl, are you not?”

She nods and takes a seat. “Thank you. Please don’t tell anyone I’m here.”

“Oh, I’m no snitch, don’t worry,” Hanneman laughs. “I’ve heard you escaped as of late. I’m stunned you have evaded detection as long as you have. Why when Hubert came here—”

“Hubert’s missing,” Edelgard just wants to get right to it. “Someone took him and I want to find him.”

“Hmm,” Hanneman takes a seat. “I see, so you are looking for clues? Perhaps this is more serious than I gathered. If you find the boy, please apologize to him for me. I—did not quite understand his situation.”

Edelgard frowns. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” he snaps his fingers to get the fire magic going on the water. Within moments it’s boiling and then it is poured into the cups. “He told me one of his pursuers was speaking very frankly about Crest experimentation. Something about secondary Crests, which I assured Hubert is impossible but nevertheless—”

He continues to ramble, and she spaces out fast. This isn’t particularly helpful, though she’s surprised how candid these ruffians are. Twin Crests are possible and she’s living proof of it, though it frustrates her to no end that these people are not secretive at all. But this is the same organization who kidnapped all of the Imperial children with no one batting an eye.

The only way for Edelgard to find Hubert, she thinks, is to follow her own pursuers. 

Unless… she starts to pay attention to Hanneman and the more he speaks the more it becomes clear to her how the problem is the nobility. Hanneman, usually jovial and sweet, becomes cold and bitter when speaking of the nobles that also frustrate Edelgard to no end.

“Is it possible,” Edelgard interrupts very carefully with spoonfuls of peace sorbet. “That the nobility knows about all of this? Did Hubert say where…” She stops to catch her breath. “...where he overheard this?”

Hanneman twirls his mustache while thinking. “It was at the opera house, I believe.”

Edelgard learned something at the opera house by listening in on a disgusting conversation a noble was having with a black mage. The opera house is so pricy hardly any common folk were there. That must be a safe space for her tormentors to discuss their plans openly and without fear, at least in Enbarr because the more she learns, the deeper the problem goes.

The Insurrection of the Seven, the fall of her father, the sudden personality shift in her uncle, Hubert’s father betraying his Emperor… it’s the nobility. It’s always been the nobility, both above the surface and below the surface that plague Fodlan.

And where else could the nobility hide a dungeon for Crest experiments?

Edelgard gets out of her chair. “I have to go back, thank you for your time—”

“To the palace?”

She hesitates. “Yes. To explore. I figured something out.”

“Hm,” he kicks his feet out, muttering things to himself. “That won’t do at all, Edelgard, when they catch you, you won’t be able to explore for some time. And if it sounds like it, your friend is in dire need.” 

Edelgard nods, waiting for the adult to keep going. Seems like he’s taking charge now. She feels guilty for telling him so much, far too much. Hubert would never. 

“I’ll sneak you in,” Hanneman grins. “I can get into the palace easily, and I don’t know, I heard Duke Aegir is in town and I’d like to give him a piece of my mind.”

Edelgard blinks. “Gee, that’d be really nice of you—but why are you helping me?”

He snorts and crosses his arms. “Honestly, Edelgard?”

“Yes, honestly, please. I’ve told you a lot.”

He thumbs his chin. “Do you know what a tenure is?”

She shakes her head.

“It means I make a lot of money and it’s good job security for me, doing this research for the Empire, but I must say—I _fucking_ hate it here!”

She laughs because she never would suspect such a regal old man of having such a potty mouth.

“I have to do bold things to get fired, Edelgard,” Hanneman laughs. “So bold I must be.”

“Why let yourself get fired? Can’t you just quit?”

He wags a finger at her. “No no, that would be boring.”

Well.

Not the best ally possibly, Edelgard thinks, but she’s thankful he’s having a midlife crisis like this.

* * *

Hanneman sneaks Edelgard into the palace the worst way he could have — he dresses her up like a toddler, carriage and all, and because she’s so tiny it works. The moment they’re safe, she changes out of this ridiculous outfit fast and stuffs the carriage in a closet. Meanwhile, Hanneman locks eyes with someone down the hall.

“Duke Aegir, you fiend I need to have a word with you!” Hanneman storms off.

Edelgard shakes her head and runs fast, checking every spot that she can for this secret dungeon. It’s anxiety inducing. Any minute someone may scoop her up the back of her shirt and seal her away in chains. She’s going to be on the throne one day, but look at the state of the current Emperor — she might just be a puppet. She needs to be good.

But she needs to find Hubert. Those can’t happen together.

Eventually, she finds the entranceway. It’s when she gets bold and storms into her Uncle’s office. By pulling an off color book from the shelf, the whole ensemble slides to the right and leaves an entrance open for her. 

Amazing that it was so close this whole time. She was only carted away as a ruse, to trick anyone who cared, and then snuck back in late into the night blindfolded. 

The moment she steps inside, her skin crawls all over and twitches. She doesn’t want to be here, she can’t be here again. Her siblings’ blood is still on the walls, perhaps even her own. But she has to find Hubert—

—who promptly screams out in pain. She’d recognize his voice anywhere, and unfortunately, knowing these halls so well, it only takes moments for her to find him. Pale, starving, and pulled taut against a slab mounted on the wall. Some black patch is on his chest, she’s heard of these: Dark Seals. They’re trying to make him stronger.

Hubert locks eyes with her, pupils dilating in disbelief, as his captor looks over her shoulder. 

Edelgard has never seen Kronya’s true form before, but somehow she knows it’s her. It’s the eyes, those dark red eyes. Her skin is pale blue, her hair orange as a carrot and she has four… tendrils hanging off of her back.

Kronya cackles, spinning one of her tendrils around like a whip. “So Mister Girlygirl has finally returned, just as you expected, Solon.”

Now Solon is someone Edelgard has seen. His head is twice as tall as anyone else’s due to his overly large forehead, one of his eyes inverted between the black and white. He clutches a cane always, and oh how he smiles at her. 

“You walked right into our trap, ▬◙■▓▓◘,” Solon titters. “When we lost sight of you, I just know you’d assume we’d hold him here. And here you came.”

Edelgard furrows her brow and looks to Hubert. He’s panting, probably too weak to speak. His ribs are the worst part. Emaciated, just like her.

“You’re horrible,” Edelgard yells at them. 

“Ha,” Solon shakes his head, pulling out a syringe. He gets closer. “It’s good for you that the Ordelia girl was a better specimen for me, else your friend would have already received his treatment. But now maybe I’ll let you watch—”

“Stand back!” Edelgard yelps, leaping back and throwing her hands into the air. Both Kronya and Solon laugh at her. As if this is so amusing. Do they not realize what they did to her? What power she now wields?

Fools.

Flames burst from Edelgard’s hands, much larger than she’s ever summoned. It’s so strong it blinds her for a moment, and sends her flat on her back. When she does get up, her palms are numb but—there is a now a _massive_ hole in the wall besides Hubert. Edelgard can faintly hear Kronya groaning in agony.

Edelgard turns on Solon now and flicks her fingers. “That was just a sample. You’re next, unless you release. Hubert. Now.”

Hubert gasps and looks down at Solon, straining for a smile. “I would listen to her.”

Solon drops his cane.

* * *

He cannot believe it still, that Edelgard actually came to his rescue. Here he thought he was going to die. He thought she gave up on him, and he might never forgive himself for that. 

The first thing they do is she gets him some soup. She explains sort of meekly that she learned the hard way that after being malnourished like that, it’s best to take it easy on the food. It helps him remarkably. She’s always so thoughtful.

Next they find Arundel. Hubert figured an escape was in order but Edelgard doesn’t want that. 

They walk into the throne room, where of course Arundel is occupying the Emperor’s seat. Edelgard’s Uncle is screaming, veins in his forehead bulging. “DUKE AEGIR! DOCTOR ESSAR! PLEASE TAKE CARE OF THIS OUTSIDE OF MY OFFICE! NOW!”

“HE STARTED IT!” Duke Aegir shrieks.

“Oho,” Hanneman just shakes his head and walks off. “Unbelievable piece of work. Oh! Hello Edelgard! Ah, and if it isn’t Hubert. Good to see you, my boy.”

Hanneman gives Hubert a friendly pat on the shoulder before leaving. 

“Edelgard,” Arundel repeats to himself in a whisper. His eyes widen and he leaps off the throne. “▬◙■▓▓◘, my dearest nephew, I was so worried—”

“Save it,” she snips. 

Ooh, Hubert crosses his arms. This is going to be _delicious._

“I figured out how to use my powers, Uncle,” Edelgard says coyly. “I just took out Kronya, and nearly Solon. Me. The nine year old girl you fools experimented on. The nine year old girl you gave twin Crests to.”

Twin Crests? Is that… possible—holy shit… 

“▬◙■▓▓◘,” Arundel’s thin lips quiver. “You speak far too freely—”

“I think it’s funny, Uncle, that you think you can rule me,” Edelgard smirks, and it reminds Hubert of his father somehow. How excited he gets before the kill. “I am going to make a deal and you will agree, or I might blow myself up.”

Arundel falls backwards. “Shit.”

“Haven’t you read any fantasy books, old man?” Hubert says flatly. “The villains who release demons from Hell to assist in their villainy always get devoured first.”

Edelgard chuckles. “First, you shall call me Edelgard from now on. As you will call Hubert by his _true_ name.”

She waits for him to nod back.

“Secondly, you will not mistreat me or Hubert ever again; you’ve done enough. Playact as my real uncle all you want, I will never forget what you’ve done. I lost so much of my memory and yet—” she clenches her fist and Hubert notices how she trembles. “—I remember it all so clearly.”

He discreetly reaches down and clutches her hand. He’s very cold, but he’s sure it will be a comfort nevertheless.

“Thirdly, no more experiments.”

Arundel opens his mouth, and Hubert knows that he will not yield there, but for now, he’s saying yes by nodding. There’s a dark glint in Edelgard’s eyes, she notices too.

Hubert does not know when Edelgard became this cold and conniving but _he loves it_.

“Lastly, Hubert is my retainer and my best friend, and I wish for that to be officially acknowledged. If these conditions are satisfied, I am willing to work with you. So. What do you say?”

Arundel blinks and gnashes his teeth. “Very well.”

“Good,” Edelgard nods and turns away, walking out of the throne room fast. 

She blinks away tears and squeezes his hand really tight. “That was really hard.”

“I’m proud of you,” he says quickly. “Slow down though, I’m still struggling to walk.”

“Ah, right, sorry,” she slows down and sobs into his shabby cloak for a moment, wiping her eyes on the grime. “I missed you so much.”

“I did too,” he whispers.

She looks up at him and her eyes sparkle. “Let us have tea together. I want to have a fun afternoon with you.”

“Ugh, tea?” he smirks. “I was just tortured, I’m on my cycle, and you want to punish me with _tea_?”

She looks back. “Ha, Hubert, I know you drink coffee now.”

He opens his mouth to say something mean and then clamps it down promptly. Coffee sounds _heavenly_ right now but… how the fuck does she know that?

“I’ve only had coffee once, Lady Edelgard,” Hubert frowns. “I liked it but… how do you even know that?”

“I stayed at the same inn you did,” she smiles primly. “The innkeeper told me about you. As did the black magic dealer, and the old man with the crossbow—”

“Oh!” Hubert snaps his fingers and points. “Edgardel!”

“So weird.”

“So weird,” he smiles. “Okay. Coffee sounds good. We obviously have a lot to talk about, I—not to be drab but… I really thought I was done for.”

She nods. “I know. I…”

Right. Edelgard mentioned something about twin crests, about what happened to her siblings. It’s easy to make guesses now, and he knows he will one day kill Arundel and all those other bastards for her. 

“You don’t have to talk about it right now.”

She looks up. “Thanks. OKAY! Tea time!”

She runs off and all of a sudden, she’s a little girl again. It’s nice. Hubert crosses his arms behind his back and follows her slowly like a good von Vestra would. 

He will always protect her. Against all odds.


End file.
